Shaping up and Shaking up the future

History has time and again proved that any concept with the potential to revolutionise the world will quickly become mainstream and widely adopted. Just look at the news article from as late as the year 2000. Fast-forwarding to 2021, we now have international governments declaring the internet as a basic human right.

Internet may be just a passing fad

Don't worry, this is not another post that debates Crypto(currencies) or NFTs. However, inevitably, blockchains are definitely going to be shaping up the future of the web and the internet, empowering the transition from web 2.0 to web 3.0, moving away from a centralised web architecture to a more decentralised web architecture that inherently brings in transparency and democracy. With the advent of Smart Contracts, DApps, DDbs, etc, the future is shaping up right in front of our eyes. If you look beyond the marketing terminologies, it exposes the beauty and power of decentralisation.

Imagine a world with a free economy, no red tapes for owning assets, instant settlements of currency/asset ownership, decentralised insurance schemes, escrows, raffles, etc. The potential use-cases are only limited by our imagination!

Sure there are a lot of misconceptions around blockchain technology, crypto, etc, which I shall do my best to clear (in a separate series of posts). It's time however to embrace and adopt the technologies or get left behind. Like every technology in its nascency, Blockchains will eventually iron out many of its current flaws and shortcomings (which is happening currently as we speak). Similarly, it has specialised use-cases for it, not everything can be moved to a blockchain based tech and as always there are tradeoffs that need to be discussed and debated before incorporating this technology. I.M.H.O The current implementations are trivial (more politically right term would be 'proof of concepts') and just scratching the surface of its true revolutionary potential. On the other hand, trivial implementations are what gets people interested, intrigued and excited, it's right on the path to glory, this can be compared to the initial frenzy during the web-2.0 transition. Interactivity in websites (web 2.0) gave rise to loads of online games etc initially, which eventually gave birth to awesome applications such as Amazon, Wikipedia, MySpace, Facebook, etc

Fundamentally what/where blockchain technology excels at is in solving the problem of trust, A true democracy gives back the authority and decision making powers to the members of the democracy, there is no central authority or an intermediary that influences the final decision. This is exactly what blockchains do, it removes the need for centralisation, This in my opinion is the greatest power and use case for blockchains.

What better domain to use the power that blockchains bring than the finance (fintech) sector, since recorded history there have been concentrated centres of power based on their financial strength influencing the concentration of wealth, Crypto decentralises this concentration and centralisation by giving back the power to its rightful owners, mitigating a central authority that controls or manipulates the economy and the flow of wealth (Sure some crypto nerds might call out "whales" but that's a story for another day)

Coinbase has been leading this domain from the forefront since its inception in 2012, Paving the way forward with the goal of becoming the blockchain version of AWS. In-fact Coinbase's mission statement is to increase economic freedom in the world. I am stoked to share that Coinbase has also been crowned INC's company of the year. My decision to join Coinbase was made simple with the facts above and the factors given below.

Coinbase has one of the best and fulsome interview processes that I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Focus is given to the following cultural tenets

• Clear communication
• Efficient execution
• Act like an owner
• Top talent
• Championship team
• Customer focus
• Repeatable innovation
• Positive energy
• Continuous learning

This results in a lovely bunch of colleagues who are immensely talented, incredibly ambitious, insanely humble and literally the best of the best in their domain. My experience so far has been nothing short of being extraordinary!

In-fact in a recently conducted internal survey, folks voted

"I work with some of the smartest people in the industry and learn something new everyday"

as the topmost reason as to why they love working for Coinbase, which I personally and completely resonate with as well! This was closely followed by the following reasons (in order)

• I love the flexibility that the remote work arrangement gives me

Yes, we are a completely remote first organisation ??

• I shape this organisation, as it gets built ground up

Most teams are being built from scratch, the scope to excel and the visibility is amazing ??

• I build something that will shape the future and impact billions of people

The title of the article ??

• I work in the new and exciting world of crypto

To the moon ??

Coinbase has a host of super exciting stuff coming up as part of the blockchain, crypto and NFT space. We are still hiring and have open positions, folks who are interested to be a part of this rocket-ship (taking us to the future) / passionate about crypto / vibe with the word HODL , please do apply. Folks who I know personally, do reach out so that I can refer you internally.

Looking forward to seeing you here as a fellow Coinbae!